Helpful Home Security Camera FAQ

Here’s a helpful home security camera FAQ, because no matter how important it is to make sure your home is set up with complete home security you can’t do anything until your questions are answered. Doing your research before you install any equipment includes understanding the basics of home security cameras and DVR systems as well as sensors, life safety devices, and even remote monitoring accessibility. It’s not as complex as it sounds, but we’ll get you started by answering some of the most basic questions we get asked.

Basic Home Security System Questions:

Q: How do I know what equipment I need for MY home?

A: This is a great place to start, because honestly each home is different and covering your home with a net of security requires customizing your system for your home. That does mean, however, that you’re going to need to draw up a guide to the vulnerabilities in your home. Take a pen and walk around. Write down a list of the doors and windows accessible from the ground floor. Then write a secondary list for the upper floors. A basic rule of thumb is that doors should be covered by security cameras and windows should have motion or glass break sensors. You’ll also need to consider what DVR you’re going to use to run your system.

Q: What’s a DVR?

A: DVR means Digital Video Recorder. These systems function very similarly to the DVR you use for your television recording purposes. But when you buy them for your security system they’re specifically wired to do a couple specific things:

Display: Collect the feed from your cameras and provide you with a live display of your surveillance feed.

Record: Compress and store all the footage it receives.

Remote Access: Allow remote access to your cameras so you can check in at home even from a distance. If you want for more than one person to be able to access this information at the same time you’ll need to look for that specifically.

Getting the right DVR for your system is important and the best way to ensure this is to make sure you get the specs you want for display, recording and remote access.

Q: What are the camera features I should look for?

A: Among the hundreds of variations you might find from camera to camera a few of the main features you should make sure you have are these:

Infrared capabilities: Security is important 24 hours a day. Cameras that can switch to night vision, or infrared lighting can provide you with a clear picture day and night.

HD video: These days if you look hard enough you can find cameras with resolution of 1080p for affordable prices. High quality resolution like this will provide you with the most useful information and optimize your surveillance.

Weather Resistant: Look for cameras that will continue to function for a long time.

Q: Wired or Wireless?

A: Both options are completely valid choices. These days wired systems still provide a more reliable broadcast than wireless systems, which are vulnerable and often disrupted by other signals. Still wireless systems are more versatile and can be easier to install.